


Third Eyes

by TherapyBard



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Cults, F/F, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mind Control, Past Child Abuse, Scars, post-episode 122
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29042136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TherapyBard/pseuds/TherapyBard
Summary: Caleb and Beau have awoken marked by knowledge they were not prepared for. With the future uncertain, what happens next?I never thought I'd write a fanfiction that'd be noncanonical the day it's posted, but here I am.
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett & Caleb Widogast, Beauregard Lionett/Yasha, Nott | Veth Brenatto & Caleb Widogast
Comments: 8
Kudos: 62





	Third Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Discussion of past trauma (child abuse), scars, lack of autonomy.  
> To explain my thought process a little bit: This is based on my theory that the other Tombtakers do have the eyes, we just can’t see them. This mainly comes from how Matt only asked Caleb to roll and see if he could see Beau’s mark. There’s even a point later where both Travis and Marisha asked about it and he only responded to Marisha. I’m pretty sure this is gonna be noncanonical within the next 13 hours, but that’s fine. I really just needed to write something following the aftermath of that episode.

The scars on Caleb’s arms burned. He knew they were more than a decade old and could hurt him no longer. That didn’t stop the pain.  _ I have a tattoo now _ . The thought minimized the significance of the situation greatly, but his mind refused to go further. To acknowledge the truth of the situation. He had refused to get a tattoo due to the memory of his scars, and now fate has forced one on him right above the sick, white lines. The gods must laugh at him. How dare he think he can forget his past? Caleb knew he couldn’t, he made sure of that. But perhaps he did need to remember how he got the scars in the first place. He desired knowledge and his ambitions led him astray. He truly was the same naïve boy.

He dragged Beau down with him this time. A tiny, selfish, evil part of him was glad. Glad to have a friend in this. Glad, if deemed necessary, he wouldn’t need to leave the group on his own. Beau’s eyes darted between her notes and the back of her hand. Perhaps Caleb was lucky to have a tattoo he could easily hide with a shirt. ‘I know it like the back of my hand,’ the saying goes. Beau would have a constant behinder of this until they found a solution. That thought was enough to quell Caleb’s momentary selfishness.  _ Beau doesn’t deserve this. I should’ve insisted on reading that book alone. _

Caleb heard the others waking up around him. He could barely bring himself to hear them, as if this curse had already put up a wall between the two of them and the rest of the group. He had to focus in order to hear Fjord say, “I don’t know, they just started freaking out and Caleb took his shirt off. They aren’t talking to me.”

Beau pointed to the back of her hand. “Woke up with this. Caleb’s got one too.”

“Got what?” Jester asked. “Is there something wrong with your hand?”

“What? You-” Beau traced the outline of the eye on the back of her hand. “See?”

“No? Is this this monk sign language or something?”

The last of Caleb’s hopes dissipated with this realization. The other members of the Tombtakers didn’t have the eyes, so maybe this wouldn’t mean Lucien had any sort of power over them. It seemed they did have the eyes, nonmembers just couldn’t see them. “It’s an eye,” Caleb said, voice drained. He pointed to his. “Mine is here.”

Fjord muttered a curse as Jester and Veth gasped. “No! What? When did this happen?” As she spoke, Veth got behind Caleb to look at where he pointed. Beau put the notebook on the floor face down. “I don’t see anything. Does it hurt?” Caleb shook his head.

“Fjord said you both had a dream. Perhaps it would help if you described it,” Caduceus said.

Caleb let Beau take the lead. She first described the black void, then the voices, the scratches, the screams. It was not an experience one could easily put into words, but she tried anyway. He nodded occasionally as she explained to confirm his dream was the same. Yasha stared at Beau, worry plain on her face. Caleb was not surprised. She’d been controlled by a cult trying to bring back something that should by all laws of nature be forgotten. Funny how history repeats itself.

“What does this mean?” Yasha asked. “Will you get powers like Lucien, or…?”

“Or are we part of that hive mind shit now? No idea,” Beau said.

“I mean, maybe he can’t control you unless you let him. He couldn’t do that with Vess,” Jester pointed out.

Caleb wished he could be as optimistic as Jester was, but there had to be a reason Lucien let them read it. Surely he didn’t mean to give potential enemies the same abilities he possessed. ‘Sweet dreams indeed…’

“It’s also possible you get more abilities the more times you read it,” Fjord said. “We may need to work on stealing it.”

“I don’t know about Beauregard, but I don’t want to give their city more power over me,” Caleb said. “Also, if his intention was to trick us into reading it so he could have power over us, I’m sure he would make sure to keep the book better secured.”

“What else are we supposed to do?” Veth asked. She kept a hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “We need to do something to help you.”

“We don’t even know if he can control us. This is just the worst possibility.”

Caduceus nodded. “We can’t do anything until we know exactly what this means for them. We won’t know that until morning. For now, we should rest while we can. If this does pose a problem in the morning, we will want to be strong enough to fight.”

“I don’t think Caleb and I should sleep at the same time again. That might be what triggered this in the first place,” Beau said.

“You shouldn’t be on watch alone either,” Fjord said. “I don’t want something to happen to you while we’re all sleeping.”

Yasha got up to sit next to Beau. “We can take the next watch.”

Everyone laid back down to get whatever sleep they could. Caleb could feel everyone watching him as he closed his eyes. He waited a few minutes before pulling out his wire as stealthily as he could. He whispered, “We should be ready to leave the others if we must for their safety. I know you told me not to run, but I can’t risk them.” He opened his eyes and saw Beau give him a slight nod.

* * *

_ Oh my god, why did I read the book? I’m such an idiot. Of course something like this would happen. Now Yasha’s worried, Caleb and I are fucked, and Lucien has an even bigger advantage than he did before. _

She tried not to let her worry show. Yasha was freaked out enough and Beau really didn’t want to add to that. She took a breath and said, “Guess our idea for a date night didn’t go as planned.”

“Not really, no.” Yasha sighed. “I really don’t like this. I never liked it, but this is awful. I’m still not used to seeing Molly as… him, and now he might be able to control you in some way. I… I know what that’s like and I don’t want that for you.”

Beau bumped her with her shoulder. “Like Caleb said, that’s just the worst possibility. I might be able to do cool shit soon like cancel magic and… that’s it but it’d be fucking awesome.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I hope that’s it.”

“Me too…” Beau’s eyes drifted to the back of her hand. She stared at the eye and thought of the one on her back.  _ Of all the tattoos to get to honor him, why’d I pick the fucking eye? _

The rest of the watch passed without issue. They both kept their eyes on Caleb, who didn’t so much as flinch the entire time. “I just realize we didn’t ask who to wake up to watch with Caleb,” Yasha said.

Beau stood up. “Veth’s a pretty safe bet. I’ll get them.” She walked over to where they laid together and shook their shoulders.

Veth jumped awake. “Something wrong?”

“Time for next watch.”

Caleb rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Thank you, Beauregard. I had no more dreams so you should be safe the rest of the night.”

“Good to know.” Once they both got up, Beau and Yasha took their place, albeit taking up more room than they had. They held hands as they fell asleep.

* * *

Caleb didn’t trust himself to speak. Waking up without any memory of his dreams was a relief, but it did nothing to cure his anxieties. This could still mark the end of his travels with the Mighty Nein. This could destroy the possibility of atonement he was finally starting to believe existed. The inevitable outcome of a lifetime of seeking knowledge without ever considering the consequences finally fell upon him.

Veth put a hand on Caleb’s. He realized he was scratching at his arm. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to worry his friend. He stopped and let his fingers entwine with hers. “I didn’t want a tattoo,” he mumbled. “I was already marked enough.” She nodded. She sat silently with him, watching the others as they slept. Veth was only ever quiet when she thought Caleb needed it. That proved how bad this was better than anything else could. “I don’t want to hurt you, Veth.”

“You won’t.”

“But-”

“Even if Lucien is able to control you in some way, or that book corrupts you,  _ you  _ won’t hurt me. It won’t be your fault.” Caleb didn’t respond. How could he? He’d heard the ‘not your fault’ speech so many times and had learned by this point that contradicting it would be useless. “You were brave today. You didn’t have to show us the top floors, or let us pick the rooms. I’m proud of you.”

“I didn’t show you as much as I could have.”

“Right, but you showed us some. I know how hard that must’ve been.” She rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb. “You’re still holding onto a lot of bad memories, but I’m happy some good memories were there. You deserve to remember them, too.”

“Well, I remember everything, but I know what you mean. I only hope door 9 is not tainted the same way door 1 is for me.”

“Right. I hope so, too.” She paused for a second. “I promise I’ll make sure you get through this alright, but you need to promise me you won’t run. And don’t say you weren’t thinking about it because I know you were. I heard you message Beau.”

“I… can’t. If worst comes to worst, I can’t let myself hurt you all. That would hurt more than anything.”

“Then at least promise me you’ll try everything before that. This is a plan Z, and don’t think we’re gonna let you go forever. Jester can still message you and we won’t let you get too far away.”

Caleb smiled. “Understood. Thank you for being loyal to me despite… everything.”

She smiled back. “You’re an easy person to be loyal to.”

A couple minutes went by in their familiar, comforting silence before Caleb said, “Room eight.”

“What?”

“Our prison cell. It’s room eight.”

Her eyes widened. “I knew it! I knew you’d put that in there.”

“Of course I did. It is a, ah, bittersweet memory, but it has certainly changed my life for the better.  _ You  _ changed it for the better.”

“You did the same for me, so we’re even.”

That was where she was wrong. He could give her the world and it would not be enough.

* * *

Eventually, the dreaded morning came. The others woke up and got ready to face whatever was coming when they saw Lucien again. Before leaving the room, Caleb took Beau to the side. Everyone else noticed and left to give them privacy.

“I… I should not have let you read the book,” Caleb said.

“You didn’t  _ let  _ me do anything.”

“I should have insisted on reading it by myself. Then only one of use would be… afflicted in this way.”

“Do you really think I would’ve let you do that? We’re in this together, man. I knew there was a risk and I didn’t want one of us taking it alone. You don’t get to feel guilty for a choice I made, got it?”

He nodded. “Ja, I understand. Thank you.”

“No problem.” She put her unmarked hand on his unmarked shoulder. “We are going to make it through this.” Caleb opened his mouth to respond. “We are. That’s not a question; it’s a promise.”

“Of course. As you said, we’ve defeated cults before.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. I can’t wait until the episode tonight. I’m both scared and excited.


End file.
